I Now Pronounce You ::: DEAD
by Kirai-chan
Summary: Tenten is a Chinese ninja captured during the war. Now she has been sent to Konoha's Genin Academy. It's got drama, it's got mystery, it's got tragedy, it's got angst, and it's got a cold heartless jerk. What more could a girl want?


This story takes place after a great war between China and Japan, like WW2 but with ninjas. Japan is divided into the same countries as in Naruto, and it takes place in Konoha. However, one thing has changed: students do graduate to a Genin level at age twelve, but they must continue to take classes until taking the Chuunin Exam. Genins go to a different academy than the academy students who are not Genin. This academy is much bigger. In front of the huge main building, the campus is divided into four parts: 1st years, 2nd years, 3rd years, and 4th (and up) years. The Rookie Nine are 1st years, and Team Gai is 2nd years. Tenten is actually a ninja from China who was captured in the war. She was put into what the Hokage (Tsunade) thought to be the proper team and section. So Team Gai used to be just Lee, Neji, and Gai, but now it's Lee, Neji, Tenten, and Gai! Okay? If I didn't explain anything well enough, please tell me and I will try to help you understand. Please have fun reading the story (although I know it is a common plot line, mine has quite a few twists…)!

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I would be drawing; not writing fan fictions to pass the time by while I wait to read more of the manga! Thus you can conclude that I do not own Naruto. But I own Tenten.

Tenten: No you don't! Jeeze! I'd rather be owned by…by…Neji than by you!

Kirai: Oo…you want to be owned by Neji?

Tenten: That's not what I said! (Goes to strangle Kirai)

Neji: Hn… (Completely oblivious to what is going on, he turns to the audience) Kirai doesn't own anything except a rather sorry manga collection.

Kirai: NOT TRUE!

Tenten: (Going through collection) Let's see…Naruto…Naruto…Naruto…School Rumble…Naruto…Naruto…Scrapped Princess…Naruto…Naruto…Fruits Basket…God! Don't you ever think about organization!

Kirai: (Rubbing a large bump on her head caused by Tenten) Wow…this is the longest authors note I've ever written…almost an entire page! Anyhow, there's one last thing I need to say…

Tenten: This better not be about Neji (Said in a deadly voice)

Kirai: So what if it is? Anyways, if…(Is again strangled by Tenten)

Neji: What she was going to say is if you don't review, she's going to order me to attack you. Which won't happen.

Kirai: Sahev meh!

Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Chapter 1:

A Sufficient Sparring Partner

"YOSH! Neji, where is our new youthful teammate Tenten who we have not yet met!" yelled Lee at the top of his lungs. But then, he yells _everything_ he says at the top of his lungs. Neji just said "Hn…" and walked into the 2nd year dorms. Lee skipped along behind him.

"Why are you following me?" Neji asked coldly, turning around. Lee smiled brightly at him.

"I want to meat our beautiful flower of youth!" he exclaimed, giving the 'good guy' pose.

"Why would I want to meet her? I'm going to train," Neji said, walking towards the large training room.

"But Neji!" Lee persisted, following him into the training room. Everyone looked up to see who was yelling so loudly. "Our beautiful flower might want to get to know us!"

"No," Neji responded, walking out into the training room to a clear section of the floor.

"Hey Neji," a voice called out of the crowd. "She might make for a better training partner!"

"Yeah, Neji! At least give her a try!" the shouts came. Neji closed his eyes and accidentally activated his Byakugen. He couldn't concentrate with all of this noise being directed at _him _of all people! Deactivating it, he walked out of the training room mumbling, "What room is she in?"

"YOSH!" yelled Lee, following behind closely. "Our beautiful flower is in room…room…She is in a room!" Neji's eyebrow twitched.

"D-Did you want to know the direction to Tenten's room?" asked a voice from behind them. Lee and Neji spun around, just to find Hinata standing there. (I don't feel like making her stutter. Deal with it.)

"Hinata-sama…what are you doing here?" Neji demanded coldly.

"W-Well, I-I-I was visiting Tenten," she explained timidly. "S-She needed help writing lyrics…"

"Hn…" Neji turned away and started walking again.

"Hinata-san! Do you know which room our beautiful flower is in!" Lee asked, teeth pinging.

"O-Of course! Room 208; I-I'll see you later, Lee-kun!" Hinata said waving and then running out of the building.

Lee and Neji finally reached room 208 and Lee knocked. The door opened and there stood a girl with brown hair, brown eyes, and two buns on top of her head. She was about two inches smaller than Lee and at least three inches smaller than Neji. Tenten wore a Chinese-style pink shirt and black capris, with the normal ninja sandals. "Hello! You must be Tenten, our new teammate! Welcome to Team Gai, oh beautiful flower!" Lee exclaimed, giving her the 'good guy' pose.

"Hn…" Neji said in a bored tone. But inside his thoughts were racing. _'She's Chinese…look at her shirt. There's no doubt. So what's she doing in Japan?'_

"Neji…Neji!" Lee called, waving his hand in front of his friend's face. Tenten was looking curiously at him. "Tenten wants to know if we want to go train with her," Lee said as Neji smacked Lee's hand out of his face.

"…fine…" Neji said, walking downstairs back to the training room.

"Well, he doesn't seem to really like me," Tenten whispered to Lee as the trailed along behind Neji.

"No, no. That is just Neji's personality! He will warm up to you soon!" Lee assured the girl. Tenten shrugged and trotted up to walk beside Neji.

"So…you're the famous Hyuga Neji. And you're on my team. What do you like to do besides train?" Tenten asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Train," Neji said, glaring at Tenten.

"Oh, okay. I guess training is fun…" Tenten said, smiling thoughtfully. _'What a weird guy…'_

"You're Chinese," Neji stated.

Tenten's eyes narrowed as she glared fiercely at him. "Do you have a problem with that?" she asked just as cold as Neji could ask.

"No," Neji smirked. "But others might. The only thing that matters to me is if you'd make a good sparring partner or not."

Tenten stopped glaring at him and slowed her pace to walk in the back with Lee. _'There are no scoring points with that guy. Guess he doesn't really want to be friends, huh? But he and Lee seem to be friends…what does Lee have that I don't? Well, he's Japanese to start with, and a better ninja no doubt._

"Hey Lee, how did you and Neji become friends?" Tenten asked innocently.

"We aren't friends," Neji responded as they walked into the training room.

"I asked Lee, not you, Mr. Smartass!" Tenten yelled at Neji. And the entire room heard her, of course. Neji turned towards her slowly, Byakugen activated.

"What…did…you…call…me?" Neji asked her narrowing his eyes at her. This would have made most people (like Lee behind Tenten) shrink back in fear, but Tenten had _way_ too much confidence for her own good.

And so she replied cockily, "You heard me. I believe it was…Mr. Smartass?" Tenten smirked. This was gonna be good.

"Fight me," Neji said.

"Huh?" Tenten said, surprised.

"Fight me," Neji demanded, lunging at her. Tenten jumped back out of the way as chants of 'FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!' echoed throughout the room.

Tenten smirked again. "Fine then; we'll fight," she said, taking out four kunai and throwing them at Neji, who easily dodged them and even caught one, throwing it back at her. Tenten dodged just as easily. Neji prepared to use the Juken on Tenten, but quickly she pulled out a scroll to use Tobidogu on Neji. She spun up in the air with the scroll, and quickly summoned the weapons, flinging them at Neji. Neji dodged them, but not without some trouble. Some of the weapons he had to block with his hands, resulting in many cuts and painful hands, although Neji didn't show it.

As soon as Tenten landed, Neji proceeded to use Juken on her. He managed to close many of her chakra holes, but not all. Neji pulled back, his hands sore.

Tenten got up slowly, dragging herself up. Red blotches began to appear where Neji had closed many of her chakra holes. She looked at Neji, and began to laugh. Whispers rushed throughout the crowd as Tenten was doubled over in laughter, clutching her stomach, practically crying. Neji actually had a confused look on his face for once. Tenten finally managed to stutter, "Y-You _poke_ your opp-opponent to d-death!" And once again she was howling with laughter. Soon everyone was laughing, and it didn't matter if she was Chinese anymore; if she used to be their enemy. Tenten was a ninja, and she was going to fit right in.

But sadly, the fight wasn't over and neither is this chapter. Because _no one_ made fun of Hyuga Neji. Before he could attack Tenten, though, Tenten went from laughing back to serious in less than a second. She hastily took out two more scrolls and performed the needed seals, shouting, "Soshoryu (Rising Twin Dragons)!"

With a large cloud of smoke, everyone gasped and tried to look around. But as the smoke cleared, two summoning scrolls in the form of dragons flew through the air, creating a spiral as everyone watched in awe. No one had ever seen a technique like this one before.

Tenten jumped up into the spiral and began summoning her weapons, directing them towards Neji using chakra strings from high above. Neji successfully dodge them all, earning only a few more scratches; nothing serious. "I'm not done yet!" yelled Tenten, again leaping into the air. She quickly tugged on the chakra strings attached to her weapons. They flew into the air and Tenten flung them towards Neji.

Then something happened that no one expected. "Hakkesho Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin)!" Neji shouted. Chakra was expelled from his entire body and stopped Tenten's weapons in their tracks, and they now lay scattered around him. Tenten landed on the ground, panting. Neji breathed deeply. Both were tired from using so much chakra.

And then Tenten smirked. "I…have other attacks, but those are saved for someone else. Not you. Besides, I could never use them here," Tenten said, gesturing to the huge but confined training room. "I may not be able to land a hit on you, but I guarantee that if I went full force, you wouldn't be able to land one on me, either."

This made Neji even more furious than he already was. _'I'll have to _force_ her to go full out…'_

"Hake Rokujuyon Sho (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms)!" Neji yelled, charging forward at the defenseless Tenten, who obviously thought the fight was over. "Ni! Ni! Hachi! Juuroku! Sanjuuni!" Neji counted. (Two! Two! Eight! Sixteen! Thirty-two!) Boos began to fill the crowd as Neji attacked the already-defeated girl.

"STOP!" boomed a powerful voice. "Neji, I am ashamed of you! Why have you forsaken your youthfulness and done such a horrible deed!" It was Gai-sensei.

Lee jumped forward towards Tenten as Gai lectured Neji, who glared at him in return. Tenten was trying to pick herself up, but with difficulty considering 64 of her chakra holes were now closed. "Tenten! Here, let me - "

Tenten pulled her arm away from him. "Leave me alone! I can do this by myself! If Neji wants to fight dirty, I'll fight dirty!" She stood up despite the pain and exertion now taking toll on her body, which was bruised to the bone.

Neji smirked. "She's the one who wanted to fight. She should've known what was - " And then he noticed Tenten standing up behind Gai, having just shouted about fighting dirty. Immediately his smirk fell. "How can you stand after that?" he demanded ruthlessly, stepping around Gai.

It was Tenten's turn to smirk. "Pure motivation. I'm not as weak as I seem to be. I think we'll get along fine."

Neji smirked back and gave a nod of his head. "Hn." Tenten reached her hand forward, although it was throbbing and needed treatment badly. Neji slowly reached his hand forward and took Tenten's. After a quick shake, they turned and walked their separate ways. Neji was heading towards the hospital, while Tenten was going who knows where.

"Uh…wait, Neji!" Tenten called, turning around, realizing she had no idea where she was going.

"The hospital is this way," he said in a monotone, waiting for her to catch up and then allowing her to lean against him as they made their way through the crowd and out of the training room. "You will be a most…sufficient…sparring partner."

Tenten smiled. That was about as much of a compliment as she was going to get. But it was still a compliment.


End file.
